Chapter 65: Caleb, Do You Have a Moment?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 65: Caleb, Do You Have a Moment?
"...So, I'll take that as a yes."
"Yes, yes."
I finished my conversation with Constable Neko and returned to the lobby.
"Please, don't overdo it."
Neko emphasized again. He seemed uneasy about asking a civilian to cooperate in an operation.
"In any case, Blackdog is a legitimate organization on the surface. As long as you interact with them normally, you won't be in any danger. There's no need to go digging for anything. Just telling us what you happen to hear will be more than enough."
"Understood."
I could see Yernil, Aimus, and Back Attack waiting in the lobby.
The professors were waiting as well.
Isilof, Meldini, and Dalstream.
'I'm so busy.'
It felt like my to-do list was piling up.
"Well then. Thank you for your time."
I waved to Neko as he quickly departed.
"Yernil."
I needed to send someone on an errand to handle the miscellaneous tasks, like selling the magic stones and various items we'd farmed in the labyrinth and getting our magic equipment appraised.
"I'm counting on you."
Yernil, on a special mission, set out!
"I'll be back!"
With a look of grim determination, Yernil hugged the bag tightly and set off.
"I have a bad feeling about this, so I'll go with her."
Thankfully, Aimus went along.
I arranged to meet Back Attack in the back alleys of Sohen in the afternoon.
And as for me...
"Is it finally our turn?"
I turned toward an excited Meldini.
"Caleb, do you have a moment?" Isilof asked.
"We'd like to hear about the stone monument, Caleb," Dalstream requested politely.
I began my meeting with the three professors.
*
"Dagger Raptor, Gourmet Whale, the pitiful Spider Doctor."
Dalstream savored the decrypted code.
"So it was a sequence of characters based on prime numbers after all."
It seemed Dalstream had known about it. Well, anyone could have figured out the pattern for finding the words if they stared at it long enough, so it was only natural that he knew.
But the reason the old professor hadn't been able to solve the code until now was probably...
"I didn't know what those three things signified. You're saying they refer to the coins from the inter-floor villages on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors?"
It seemed the professors didn't know much about the flags, symbols, or monsters of the inter-floor villages either.
For example, when I first brought out the Dagger Raptor coin. I had asked Isilof if he knew what it was, but he had shaken his head.
"The inter-floor villages themselves have had little research value until now," Meldini said. The inter-floor villages are dangerous, but since the monsters don't drop magic stones, they aren't popular with adventurers. It was even like that in the game.
"Caleb. Did a new message appear after you decrypted the code?" Isilof asked.
This was the main point for me as well.
"Here. This is the scroll I tore back then."
It was a used scroll, no better than a piece of scrap paper, but the incantation for the Tier 10 magic was still there.
We guard the ruins left by the vanquished king.
We forbid the approach of all that is evil.
"Hmm."
The three professors stood side by side, arms crossed, studying the message.
"What could this mean?"
"If it's ruins, could it be referring to the 3.5th floor?"
"And who is this 'vanquished king'?"
"Wouldn't it be the leader of the 3.5th floor village?"
Probably. And judging by the flag, the Spider Doctor might be the 'vanquished king'.
Perhaps the king of an ancient kingdom who fought the labyrinth and was devoured?
If possible, I wanted to leave this part as homework for the professors.
After all, there was a limit to the information I had, and the risks were too great for me to investigate in person.
It would be great if I could at least figure out the Spider Doctor's identity or history through the professors.
'A professor like Dalstream, at least, won't be able to resist looking into it, right?'
If I gently stoked the professors' curiosity...
"Caleb. We'll investigate this part ourselves."
Just as I thought.
Once Dalstream took the lead, the other professors joined in.
"Let's start by recreating what Caleb did," Isilof suggested.
"When the labyrinth opens next, how about we try activating the monument?"
After activating its magic once, the monument returns to its original state. And to activate it again, you need the coins.
"To get the coins, we'll have to go through the 1.5th, 2.5th, and 3.5th floors in order."
"Then shouldn't we start by finding the inter-floor villages?"
In the case of the 3.5th floor, there's a permanently fixed, exposed staircase on the mountainside with the monument, but that's not the case for the 1.5th and 2.5th floors.
That's why I had to use Undead Back Attack to pinpoint the location and search for the stairs by waiting intermittently when I was looking for the 1.5th floor.
"The temple probably knows about a staircase to the 1.5th floor."
Because Bernard's party had entered the 1.5th floor back then. When I pointed this out, the professors smiled as if I were being cute.
"The Magic University also knows of a staircase or two leading to the 1.5th floor, Caleb."
"As for the 2.5th floor, I wrote a security thesis on it a while back," Meldini said.
"Then let's use the exposed staircase for the 3.5th floor. Shall we all go in together when the labyrinth next opens? Will you join us, Caleb?" Professor Dalstream asked.
They were like department heads, no, executives, trying to coax a new employee into a weekend hike.
"I'd like to adventure with my own party members."
"Right. That's for the best. A young wizard like you doesn't need to follow a bunch of professors around and clean up after them."
Isilof smiled and let me off the hook. Thanks to him, Isilof had just become the youngest member of this party of old wizards.
"I'll prepare the food and consumables."
"Thanks, Isilof. I'll bring a few cartons of good cigarettes."
"It's been a long time since I've been to the lower floors."
To these Tier 7 wizard professors, going to an inter-floor village on a lower floor must feel like a picnic.
I gave a polite farewell and left.
*
Is it because I've sown so many seeds?
I really feel like a farmer in harvest season.
'Isel.'
As I came out from the meeting with the professors, Isel, who was sitting on a bench in the hallway, signaled to me with her eyes.
"Caleb. Do you have a moment?"
"Yes, hello."
"It's been a while."
Something must have happened at Professor Enver's club. She must have called me to talk about it.
But Isel didn't get straight to the point.
'She's being cautious because we're inside the university.'
I was glad that Isel was such a cautious person.
On the surface, we were just acquaintances who had met once at the party at the Berten estate, so should I try acting a little distant?
"I hear you've been doing great things."
"I was lucky."
"You were brilliant at the Berten estate, too."
"I was lucky then, too. But you haven't returned to the east yet?"
"No. A 'meeting' came up unexpectedly."
She was sending a signal. That meeting was for Enver's club.
Enver must have reported to the possessors in the club's upper ranks. About me.
"Oh? When is your meeting?"
"It's already over. Two days ago."
"..."
"I think I'll be leaving in about 10 minutes. For the east."
Isel said, gesturing toward a clock with her chin.
I got it.
Tap, tap.
Isel was lightly tapping a notebook with the tip of her wand.
That was the same kind of notebook the guards at the Berten estate's main gate used. The kind they used to send messages announcing a guest's arrival.
"I see. Well, have a safe trip to the east."
I bid Isel farewell and quickly left.
'Restroom, restroom!'
I needed a place to be alone.
She said 10 minutes, right?
I checked my watch. The time was 10:42 AM.
I went to the restroom at the end of the first-floor hallway and locked the door.
And waited for about 10 minutes.
Poof!
A note materialized before my eyes.
*
Two days ago.
At dawn, while Caleb was wandering through the 3rd floor of the labyrinth.
A secret assembly was held in a small room at the top of the Magic University's tower.
The name of the assembly was the 'Assembly of the Labyrinth's Abyss.'
Any possessor would flinch upon hearing that name. Because it was the name of the game.
Of course, Isel wasn't a possessor, so she didn't know the true meaning of the name, but she was still a member of the assembly.
Flutter!
Isel, a Tier 5 wizard, covered her entire body with a large black cloak and cast a disguise spell on herself.
"Disguise. Koi Carp face."
Her mouth gaped open and closed whenever she spoke, as if she were wearing a carp-shaped mascot head.
"Ah, ah. Hello. This is Koi Carp."
She tested her voice. It was definitely altered.
The meeting place she went to was a dark conference room at the top of the Magic University's tower.
"Welcome, Koi Carp."
There were ten attendees at the meeting today.
Besides Koi Carp, there were Red Monkey, Flowered Goblin, Old Tree Ghost, Growling Chihuahua, Bitten Apple, Broccoli Dipped in Red Chili Paste, Broken Molar, Balding Yeti, and Eyelashed Frog.
'When I was younger, these mascot heads just seemed cute and funny.'
But at some point, I started finding them creepy.
"Red Monkey called today's meeting," said the Chihuahua, baring its teeth fiercely.
The characters were how they identified each other. They used the mascot persona they set upon joining the assembly like a password.
At the same time, it was also used as a tool of coercion, allowing higher-ranking members to hold the lives of lower-ranking members in their hands.
This was because the higher-ranking members knew the identities of the lower-ranking ones, but not vice versa.
In Isel's case, for example, no one knew her true identity except for Red Monkey—Enver—who had recruited her.
However, everyone gathered here knew Isel's identity.
"You said you had an agenda concerning the Magic University freshman, Caleb, right?" asked Eyelashed Frog.
Isel calmly gathered their conversation.
Most of it was information Isel already knew. Caleb possessed an incredible level of possessor knowledge. They could learn about magic book builds and the labyrinth's secrets from him. Perhaps through him...
"We might even be able to find the Labyrinth Master."
Red Monkey eagerly tried to persuade the members.
"Of course Blackdog will covet Caleb too. They'll probably get involved with him soon, one way or another. We have to bring him in before they do."
"I'm against bringing him into the assembly," said Bitten Apple.
"The man has a record of murdering a possessor in Wyndham, doesn't he?"
"And he killed an eight-tailed Deep Layer adventurer at that."
"Honestly, I can't believe it, but he's someone whose true intentions we can't fathom."
"Plus, he's close with Meldini."
"Right. What if we invite him and Meldini shows up instead?"
"He's clearly valuable, but he's also dangerous. We need to approach him with caution."
In an instant, the members grew noisy.
"But I agree that we can't let Blackdog get him," said the goblin with flower pins on its temples and ears.
"They're definitely chomping at the bit to recruit that wizard. They're just being cautious like us because of his history of killing a possessor," said Old Tree Ghost.
"Tricky."
"Red Monkey, what do you think we should do?"
The question returned to Enver.
"Let's not invite him to the assembly until we've built sufficient trust. I'll try to tame him indirectly."
"How?"
"It's simple. We share information and provide him with what he needs."
"Blackdog is better at that than we are."
"That's why, at the same time, we teach him how dangerous and wicked Blackdog is. They're a hotbed of crime, aren't they? Unlike us, who operate in the light..."
"Absolutely not!" Growling Chihuahua expressed its disapproval.
"Even slandering them indirectly is a violation of the treaty. Do you want a direct confrontation with Blackdog?"
"It's not like I'm making things up, am I?"
"Do you really think bringing Caleb in is worth that risk?" Old Tree Ghost asked.
"That is my judgment. That's why I requested this meeting today—to get your permission."
"..."
"That fox in Wyndham. She was probably playing on a higher difficulty than us. That makes Caleb the person with the highest chance of finding the Labyrinth Master in all of Sohen right now!" Enver shouted.
"The sharper the knife, the faster you must grab the handle. If we hesitate and Blackdog gets him, we'll be in trouble. What will we do if Blackdog finds the Labyrinth Master first?"
"Umm..."
"..."
A brief silence fell over the meeting room.
And just then, another attendee appeared.
"Sorry, I'm a little late."
White Lion.
The man wearing a mask with a lush, flowing white mane was the pinnacle of this assembly.
The only one who knew everyone's identity, while his own was known to none. And the one who had first created this assembly.
"I overheard from the side. Why don't you give it a try?" White Lion said to Enver.
"Give it a try?" The Chihuahua turned to him in surprise.
"Yes. But."
White Lion clasped his hands behind his back and sidled up to Red Monkey.
"If any problems arise, it will be because of your own unilateral deviation. You understand that, right?"
*
[...Enver was confident. Since Caleb has had no contact with Blackdog so far, is a student at the Magic University, and Enver is a professor. Moreover, Caleb has only been in Sohen for a month, so he seems to think it will be simple to coax him. -Isel-]
The long, meticulously written message was so extensive it was practically a transcript of the meeting.
Ten pages' worth. It seemed she hadn't written it just now, but had prepared it in advance and just sent it.
Crackle, crackle.
I burned it all in the incinerator on the west side of the university.
I have a bit of a compulsive personality, so I'm not satisfied until I see things like this completely destroyed.
'Anyway, Enver.'
You're quite proactive.
I'm not only grateful that you rate me so highly, I even want to applaud your insight.
'But is that really going to be enough?'
You're more of a coward than I thought.
I'm very disappointed. I thought you'd at least invite me to a meeting.
Too scared to do that, so you'll try to tame me indirectly?
1. Share information. 2. Provide support. 3. Coax me into keeping my distance from Blackdog because they're the bad guys?
Let me answer those one by one. Number 1: I know more than you do.
Number 2: I've got a line of backers, from Isilof and Meldini to the Berten family.
Number 3: I'll be the judge of that, so I don't need to hear it from you.
"Caleb."
As I was leaving the incinerator, I ran into Enver, who had apparently been looking for me.
He called out to me while holding a cup of warm coffee.
"Do you have a moment?"
Seeing his bright smile, he was indeed brimming with confidence, just as Isel's message had said.
Of course he would be. In his mind, I was someone who knew nothing about his club or Blackdog.
There are three great gardens in the world: the Peach Blossom Spring, the Garden of Eden, and the inside of Enver's head.
The thought of burning that garden to the ground made me feel a little sorry for him.
"I'm a bit busy right now."
"I have to go to the back alleys of Sohen."
"Pfft!"
Enver, who had been sipping his coffee, immediately spat it out.
Because Blackdog was in the back alleys.
"Wh-why are you going to those alleys...?"
"Professor, do you happen to know anything about Blackdog?"
I'm not saying this to mess with you. I'm gathering information for a job the constable requested. Really.
You said you know Blackdog well, didn't you? So stop looking like you're about to faint and just breathe, Enver!
"I'm a little interested in them."
Enver froze where he stood and dropped his coffee cup.